Part II - the mountains! Chimney Rock

On our way to Blowing Rock from the beach we stopped and hiked Chimney Rock.  It is a beautiful place that overlooks Lake Lure.  I am scared to death of heights - and Chimney Rock is high!  There are a lot of narrow walkways leading up the rock that I am not a big fan of.  Rick and I first visited Chimney Rock when we were dating.  It was cold and a little rainy that day and I remember being scared out of my wits climbing up there.  Needless to say I didn't make it, and wound up sliding back down those stairs on my rear end - holding on for dear life.  I was determined this time, however, to not chicken out in front of my boys.  I managed to climb all the way up!  Thankfully for me, some of the more narrow pathways were closed for renovations.  Rick and David climbed a little higher, while Jason and I hung out near the gift shop!  David even bought Jason a dog made from rock with his own money.  I was proud of him!

The beach or the mountains? Part I - the beach!

We usually go somewhere out of town for our summer vacation.  But this year, after buying the house, we decided to stay closer to home.  The question then became "the beach or the mountains?"  I am a big beach lover, but Rick prefers the mountains.  We haven't been to the beach in a long time as a family, so this year we decided to do both - the beach AND the mountains!  We are so fortunate to live a few hours from the beach and a couple of hours from the mountains.  So, we spent a few days in Hilton Head Island, then drove to Blowing Rock for a few days. 

Hilton Head is one of my favorite places to be - and we all had a great time.  I couldn't get the boys out of the ocean for 2 straight days!  The weather was great and the breeze from the ocean made the heat bearable.  We rented beach chairs and an umbrella on the beach - so nice not to lug chairs from the car.  Rick bought the boys a little body board to ride the waves - they had a blast!  Lots of outside fun, good food, and great family time.  Next stop....the mountains!

Friday!

We are having a fun, relaxing summer and soon will be going to the beach (yay!).  David wanted some extra spending money, so he asked what he could do to earn it.  Well Mamma has plenty of stuff for him to do!  Today he dusted the house, dust mopped the downstairs, cleaned the kitchen counters and breakfast table and - the doozey of them all - vacuumed the house.  I hate vacuuming, so it was my pleasure to pay my sweet first born to do it - and he did a fantastic job!  He even backed out of the room while vacuuming to make the lines look good (Dad is so proud!).  He earned a lot of extra money today so he is excited and I got to get a lot of other things done while he was doing my normal Friday cleaning job!  Win-Win situation!

Jason, on the other hand, is not as motivated by money.  He did dust the baseboards in the house - but that was about all he wanted to do.  He did do his normal chores so now my house is sparkling clean!  Rick's mom bought him this huge dog for his birthday this past week - according to her he "fell in love with it and she had to get it".  Grandmothers are such suckers.  Here he is with his favorite pet.  We are already arguing about taking him on vacation.....he cries when I say it won't fit in the car.  Trust me, it won't.  But I'm not sure if I can take him crying all the way to the beach without it!  Stay tuned.....

The things I love about our house

After living in an apartment for 2 years and 2 months, there are too many things to list that I love about our new, beautiful home.  But one of my favorites is our back yard.....and all the animals we get to see.  Here are a few - deer wondering what we were doing in his yard!  Frogs stuck on the back windows....and the bunnies my boys love to leave carrots for.  So fun!

The latest bang up

My oldest looks like a train hit him this week.  Between falling off his bike, getting run into by his best friend, and now hitting his head on his night stand - he looks like he was the loser in a brawl.  The latest happened last night when he was tossing and turning and somehow slid off the bed enough to hit his nose on the corner of the nightstand.  Instead of coming down last night to tell me he had done this, he cried for a little bit then went back to sleep. Thankfully his dad woke up before I did and saw it - when he brought him in our room to show me I couldn't believe it.  Of course, I felt horrible that he didn't come and get one of us, but Rick believes he was too tired.  David said he didn't want to wake me up - and that I would "flip out" when I saw it.    He got that right!  I had to take a picture of it - although it looks better in the picture than it does in real life (you can tell how pleased he is that I am taking his picture!).  Hopefully the swelling will go down in a couple of days - it sure hurts though - according to him.  All this had to happen the morning before our well visit at the doctor!  At least she got to look at it and didn't call DSS!  I love having boys - now if only my stomach can handle changing the bandages! YUCK!

LEGOland!

David's birthday was May 29th, and because we moved, and finished school on the 28th, we promised David we would do a party for him later in the summer.  He wanted a Lego party and that's what he got a couple weeks ago.  Lego has a store at Concord Mills Mall. It's a great store and they have rooms for small birthday parties.  The only problem was picking only 9 friends to invite - that was tough!  But he did it and had a great time picking out Lego sets and then building them.  He loves Legos!  After the party we went to the food court and had cookie cake and he opened his presents from his friends.  He, like Jason, does a great job at picking his friends.  They are really sweet boys and most of them he has known since Kindergarten - especially his best friend Keegan.  It was a great time and he loved having his birthday spread out from May to July!

Jason's 6!

We had a great day yesterday celebrating Jason's 6th birthday with family and friends at Chuck E. Cheese.  It was crazy, but a lot of fun, and Jason had a great time seeing all his friends from school.  We started by playing games, then it was time for pizza and a visit from the man himself - Chuck E. Cheese!  This was good for everyone but his pal Bryce, who had to be shielded from the big furry one - he was terrified to say the least. 

Then it was on to opening gifts, cake and a jump in the ticket booth.  This part was hysterical!  Jason got in the booth, then they turned it on and tickets went flying everywhere.  He is supposed to grab as many as he can, which he did.  He also nabbed a big ticket worth 200 tickets.  He was pretty excited about that.  He truly has the sweetest friends and I am so proud of him for being sweet to each of his friends on this chaotic day.  The best part about it was I got to visit with parents and spend time with my birthday boy, while the sweet girl from Chuck E. Cheese handled the pizza, drinks, cake, etc.  Loved it!  

We came home after that with a couple of our closest friends and they played all day.  At dinner he got to pick what he wanted - just like momma, he picked all fried foods - chicken nuggets, tater tots and mozzarella sticks.  We had chocolate cake with chocolate icing (just the same at lunch) and then opened presents.  He got puzzles and legos but the big item (and surprise) was a Nintendo DS.  You can tell by his face he was not expecting it.  He was so excited!  Daddy did a good job picking that one out!

It was a wonderful day to celebrate. We are so blessed to have Jason in our lives.  His energy and personality make our family fun and exciting - and we love our little JC!